The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) Lagos State Chapter has continued its tradition of timely, industry-relevant conversation with its March Monthly Clinic, using the occasion of International Women’s Day (IWD) to address one of the most pressing challenges facing communications professionals today.

The clinic, sponsored by CMC Connect LLP, was themed “Crisis Management in the AI Milieu: New Threats, Smart Responses” and brought together public relations practitioners, communications analysts and industry stakeholders for a session that blended gender commemoration with substantive professional development.

The decision to tie the March edition of the clinic to IWD was a deliberate one, reflecting the Lagos chapter’s recognition that the contributions of women to Nigeria’s public relations industry deserve both celebration and a platform. The sponsorship by CMC Connect LLP, a communications consultancy that has been increasingly visible in industry conversations around emerging technology, added further weight to the occasion.

The featured presentation was delivered by Dora Akpunka on behalf of Affiong Edet, Senior Corporate Communication Analyst at CMC Connect LLP, whose work on AI and crisis communication has been at the centre of what the firm has described as a broader industry advocacy effort.

What made the clinic particularly significant was its timing. Nigeria’s communications industry is navigating a period of rapid technological disruption, and AI sits at the heart of that disruption. Questions about how brands, institutions and individuals protect their reputations in an environment where voice cloning, deepfake videos and algorithmic amplification can destroy credibility within minutes are no longer abstract or futuristic. They are immediate and operational.

The presentation addressed this reality head on, walking practitioners through the dual nature of AI as both a threat and a tool in crisis scenarios. It drew on case studies from the United Kingdom and Nigeria, including the Sterling Bank voice cloning crisis and the deepfake videos targeting popular entertainer Dr. Ibu, to demonstrate that the risks are real, the timelines are compressed and the consequences of unpreparedness are severe.

The clinic also served as the platform for CMC Connect LLP to announce its PR Management Advocacy Month, running through March, with the explicit goal of raising industry wide awareness about AI’s dual nature in crisis communication. “At CMC Connect, we decided that this conversation should not remain private or internal. It needed to become an industry conversation,” Akpunka said, explaining the thinking behind the initiative.

The monthly clinic format has become one of the Lagos chapter’s most consistent tools for professional development, offering members regular access to current thinking, practical frameworks and peer engagement on issues shaping the practice of public relations in Nigeria. The March edition demonstrated the format at its most purposeful, pairing a relevant social moment with content that practitioners could take back to their offices and apply immediately.

For the Lagos chapter, the session reinforced its positioning as a platform not just for networking but for genuine intellectual engagement with the forces reshaping the communications profession. In an industry where the pace of change is accelerating, the monthly clinic continues to offer something valuable: a dedicated space to think, learn and prepare.